On its face, looks like a card that won't be very fun to play or play against. If this card does see play, maybe players are able to figure out a way to complete it while still playing a two-person game, but it does not seem like this card is doing a good job at incentivizing more than a one-person "play this card, then this card" game. A very good thing there are cards like Tickatus and Mutanus to counter it, otherwise the only way to interact with this deck would be to kill it. Probably too slow for ladder, but I have a feeling we will see this in competitive Hearthstone.
Built a wild shaman deck designed to kill myself as quickly as possible: we got evolves and buffs and windfuries to buff our opponent's minions so they can smash them into our face and we can get the damn legendary quest done.
So of course the first idiot I queue into in casual is the only person playing Hearthstone not interested AT ALL in winning, going out of his way to kill his own minions so I have to wait until I can safely concede and still get credit for a game played.
EDIT: What is the fucking DEAL with Mages? I'm on Wild Ladder now and still queued into an asshole who refused to send his buffed minions into my face! TAKE YOUR FREE WIN YOU FUCKING MORON
Why is Oh My Yogg! allowed to exist in its current form? Why couldn't Blizzard change it to something like, "After your opponent casts a spell, cast a random one of the same Cost," or "When you cast this from your deck, Terry Crews comes to your house and punches you in the solar plexus."? Blizzard, here's some feedback: Getting my spells "countered" as early as turn 2 is not fun. I would also like to take part in playing this game you call "Hearthstone," and I can't do that if I'm getting my spells turned into useless junk.
Also, giving their weapon 1 less Durability doesn't change the fact that starting on turn 2 they get free tempo from either Avenge (free stats! whee!), Galloping Savior (free stats! whee!), or Oh My Yogg! (free Counterspell! whee!), not to mention that their opponent has to play around ALL of those secrets while the Paladin continues to develop onto the board. You essentially have two choices: you can play on pins and needles and fall behind on the board, or you can guess which Secret it is....and still fall behind on board if you're wrong.
P.S. - Can we talk about how everyone knew Paladin was the best class pre-patch, and the only changes Blizzard made to it were to nerf Crabrider, a neutral that saw play in more than just Paladin decks, and to "nerf" First Day of School by making it slightly worse on turn 1 or 2 but waaaaaaaaaay better after that? The reasoning behind the changes make sense, but for those to be the ONLY changes to the most powerful class in the game are pretty annoying. Unless the mini-set has a neutral minion with: "Battlecry: Deal 10 damage to your opponent for every Secret they've triggered this game," I don't see how it can bring about significant change to the power level of Paladin.
Board state is thus: Opponent (of course it's paladin, is there any other class?) has two big Kazakus golems and a 3/4. I have a Kazakus and a big Kazakus golem with lifesteal. Opponent has had Steed secret up for most of the game; I've been very patiently playing around it and it's worked out well so far. The only other secret played this game has been an Oh My Yogg! Last turn, my opponent played a Secret. To play around Oh My Yogg! (because of course I have to play around a second copy), I target my big lifesteal with Psyche Split (What's the worst that can happen? I think). Well, the second Oh My Yogg! turns Psyche Split into Malevolent Strike, which (you guessed it) targets my big lifesteal instead of any of the other minions on board.
Related: Can anyone confirm whether Oh My Yogg! picks new targets for spells? I swear I've played other targeting spells that had their targets change post-Yogg (and often to my detriment).
I definitely feel your pain with regards to not having the dust to craft the "good" cards in a deck. Tickatus is definitely a bugger right now for any control deck to face. I haven't tested a lot of Control in the current meta, but have you thought about including sticky deathrattle minions like Cairne or a big value minion like Ysera the Dreamer (apologies if Priest already runs these, like I said I haven't tested much Control)? I know they aren't going to be incredibly powerful or swing the matchup in your favor, but they could help test the limits of Warlock's control tools and give you a small edge. I find sometimes the best way to get enjoyment out of the game is just to test fringe tech cards--it helps change your mindset from "win the game" to "see if this is any good" and sometimes it just feels good to win with a card your opponent probably didn't expect you to have.
kaladin, my advice would be to find a deck that you enjoy playing and if there aren't any decks that you enjoy playing now, then it is perfectly all right to stop playing for a bit. Hearthstone is a game that's meant to be played for fun and if you're not having fun then it's a good idea to take a break.
What kind of strategies do you enjoy? Do you like minion-based combat? Then I would recommend some version of Rush Warrior. Do you like grindy Control games? Control Warlock, Control Priest. It sounds like you're not a fan of aggro, so I won't mention it.
Again, it's perfectly fine to take a break if you're not enjoying yourself. Hearthstone will still be there when you feel better. If you would allow me to give some small portion of advice, it's that I would hope that you can find some way to stop judging yourself or your enjoyment of the game by whether you win. It's entirely normal to go on loss streaks, even loss streaks where it feels like every opponent draws their best possible cards every turn. It's just part of card games. Losing games says nothing about you as a player. Everyone loses games.
It's probably an underdog in those matchups (as you might expect from a budget deck) but it has legs. It's best to play against Lunacy Mage like it's a Control deck (mulligan for Ironclad, draw hard for Grom and buffs to finish them off). That matchup is winnable if they don't go crazy with Lunacy and Spring Water (and watch out for Devolving Missiles). Against Secret Pally, Minefield works really well to kill their Divine Shield minions, and we have enough cheap Rush minions and weapons to fight for the board early while hoping to explode late.
It's a dumb joke (as are all of my jokes), the "point" being that the new weapon cards might just be overshadowed by SSS and the Poisons already in Standard, not that I think this will 100% be the case. If I see a way to make a dumb joke, chances are I'm going to take it because that's just who I am.
Libram Paladin is at the top of my list for cards I won't miss come NEXT rotation. It's pretty bonkers to think that in less than a year the lIbrams were released, had key cards buffed after the archetype saw no play, then became one the most played decks for two expansions to the point that some of them were nerfed, and continues to be one of the most played decks.
Tosslock will not be good, for the main reason that there is not a way to protect the cards that pay off your Tossing through your deck while you are tossing through your deck. I don't think this card will see play in any other decks, and Tosslock will never actually be good enough because the entire point is counterintuitive to winning games.
I think this works well in any deck that's somewhat aggressive and can draw pretty efficiently through its deck. Rogue, basically. I don't think this works as a finisher or is even very powerful in slower decks. I think everyone gets a copy for free, so at least we can all test it out with a variety of strategies.
This is a very good minion that can eat one enemy minion then turn into a big Taunt to fluster the rest of the enemy minions and protect your minions. I like it a lot, and especially in Menagerie Warden decks.
I've already been having a lot of fun with Vol'jin, and I don't see him slowing down any time soon. As the card pool in Standard shrinks, I think it's likely we see Vol'jin come in just as a card that can deny combos or push a big body back to hand. Of course, I'll still be looking for ways to use him in Show and Tell style decks to cheat big minions into play way before they should have been.
If you can swing it, this minion can sometimes gain a two-for-one. Or, if you can give it Rush it can attack into a minion, survive, then deal 5 damage to the face. It's a bit janky and probably too unreliable to see a lot fo play, but it's nice to dream.
Infinite* Value, which I am always a fan of. Not sure if this is something you really want to be playing with in most Hunter decks, but I think there's definitely a niche for Dire Frenzy style decks in the new expansion that this Beast will certainly slot into. Excited to see what he can do.
Works really well with buffs. Provides a decent Neutral tool for any deck that thinks they can take advantage of his Frenzy effect. One of the few Frenzy cards that has a reliable way of triggering Frenzy. Should see some play, especially early in the expansion, and I think there are a number of classes that can make him work for them.
If you've built your deck correctly, a Blackthorn turn should be pretty big. I think he can work in a variety of decks so long as you have enough Deathrattle for him to pull from your deck. He thins your deck and provides you with a nice board presence. I wouldn't expect this to be a finisher, but it could be a very powerful Tempo play if you're willing to adjust your deck to accommodate him.
On its face, looks like a card that won't be very fun to play or play against. If this card does see play, maybe players are able to figure out a way to complete it while still playing a two-person game, but it does not seem like this card is doing a good job at incentivizing more than a one-person "play this card, then this card" game. A very good thing there are cards like Tickatus and Mutanus to counter it, otherwise the only way to interact with this deck would be to kill it. Probably too slow for ladder, but I have a feeling we will see this in competitive Hearthstone.
Built a wild shaman deck designed to kill myself as quickly as possible: we got evolves and buffs and windfuries to buff our opponent's minions so they can smash them into our face and we can get the damn legendary quest done.
So of course the first idiot I queue into in casual is the only person playing Hearthstone not interested AT ALL in winning, going out of his way to kill his own minions so I have to wait until I can safely concede and still get credit for a game played.
EDIT: What is the fucking DEAL with Mages? I'm on Wild Ladder now and still queued into an asshole who refused to send his buffed minions into my face! TAKE YOUR FREE WIN YOU FUCKING MORON
Thanks for pointing that out
uh oh Big Kiwi found me.
Why is Oh My Yogg! allowed to exist in its current form? Why couldn't Blizzard change it to something like, "After your opponent casts a spell, cast a random one of the same Cost," or "When you cast this from your deck, Terry Crews comes to your house and punches you in the solar plexus."? Blizzard, here's some feedback: Getting my spells "countered" as early as turn 2 is not fun. I would also like to take part in playing this game you call "Hearthstone," and I can't do that if I'm getting my spells turned into useless junk.
Also, giving their weapon 1 less Durability doesn't change the fact that starting on turn 2 they get free tempo from either Avenge (free stats! whee!), Galloping Savior (free stats! whee!), or Oh My Yogg! (free Counterspell! whee!), not to mention that their opponent has to play around ALL of those secrets while the Paladin continues to develop onto the board. You essentially have two choices: you can play on pins and needles and fall behind on the board, or you can guess which Secret it is....and still fall behind on board if you're wrong.
P.S. - Can we talk about how everyone knew Paladin was the best class pre-patch, and the only changes Blizzard made to it were to nerf Crabrider, a neutral that saw play in more than just Paladin decks, and to "nerf" First Day of School by making it slightly worse on turn 1 or 2 but waaaaaaaaaay better after that? The reasoning behind the changes make sense, but for those to be the ONLY changes to the most powerful class in the game are pretty annoying. Unless the mini-set has a neutral minion with: "Battlecry: Deal 10 damage to your opponent for every Secret they've triggered this game," I don't see how it can bring about significant change to the power level of Paladin.
Board state is thus: Opponent (of course it's paladin, is there any other class?) has two big Kazakus golems and a 3/4. I have a Kazakus and a big Kazakus golem with lifesteal. Opponent has had Steed secret up for most of the game; I've been very patiently playing around it and it's worked out well so far. The only other secret played this game has been an Oh My Yogg! Last turn, my opponent played a Secret. To play around Oh My Yogg! (because of course I have to play around a second copy), I target my big lifesteal with Psyche Split (What's the worst that can happen? I think). Well, the second Oh My Yogg! turns Psyche Split into Malevolent Strike, which (you guessed it) targets my big lifesteal instead of any of the other minions on board.
Related: Can anyone confirm whether Oh My Yogg! picks new targets for spells? I swear I've played other targeting spells that had their targets change post-Yogg (and often to my detriment).
I definitely feel your pain with regards to not having the dust to craft the "good" cards in a deck. Tickatus is definitely a bugger right now for any control deck to face. I haven't tested a lot of Control in the current meta, but have you thought about including sticky deathrattle minions like Cairne or a big value minion like Ysera the Dreamer (apologies if Priest already runs these, like I said I haven't tested much Control)? I know they aren't going to be incredibly powerful or swing the matchup in your favor, but they could help test the limits of Warlock's control tools and give you a small edge. I find sometimes the best way to get enjoyment out of the game is just to test fringe tech cards--it helps change your mindset from "win the game" to "see if this is any good" and sometimes it just feels good to win with a card your opponent probably didn't expect you to have.
kaladin, my advice would be to find a deck that you enjoy playing and if there aren't any decks that you enjoy playing now, then it is perfectly all right to stop playing for a bit. Hearthstone is a game that's meant to be played for fun and if you're not having fun then it's a good idea to take a break.
What kind of strategies do you enjoy? Do you like minion-based combat? Then I would recommend some version of Rush Warrior. Do you like grindy Control games? Control Warlock, Control Priest. It sounds like you're not a fan of aggro, so I won't mention it.
Again, it's perfectly fine to take a break if you're not enjoying yourself. Hearthstone will still be there when you feel better. If you would allow me to give some small portion of advice, it's that I would hope that you can find some way to stop judging yourself or your enjoyment of the game by whether you win. It's entirely normal to go on loss streaks, even loss streaks where it feels like every opponent draws their best possible cards every turn. It's just part of card games. Losing games says nothing about you as a player. Everyone loses games.
Journey before destination.
It's probably an underdog in those matchups (as you might expect from a budget deck) but it has legs. It's best to play against Lunacy Mage like it's a Control deck (mulligan for Ironclad, draw hard for Grom and buffs to finish them off). That matchup is winnable if they don't go crazy with Lunacy and Spring Water (and watch out for Devolving Missiles). Against Secret Pally, Minefield works really well to kill their Divine Shield minions, and we have enough cheap Rush minions and weapons to fight for the board early while hoping to explode late.
ZelKnow tweeted this list yesterday, apparently had some nice success with it on ladder.
69 Legend Handbuff Warrior
https://twitter.com/ZelKnow/status/1379372310646427648
It's a dumb joke (as are all of my jokes), the "point" being that the new weapon cards might just be overshadowed by SSS and the Poisons already in Standard, not that I think this will 100% be the case. If I see a way to make a dumb joke, chances are I'm going to take it because that's just who I am.
Libram Paladin is at the top of my list for cards I won't miss come NEXT rotation. It's pretty bonkers to think that in less than a year the lIbrams were released, had key cards buffed after the archetype saw no play, then became one the most played decks for two expansions to the point that some of them were nerfed, and continues to be one of the most played decks.
Tosslock will not be good, for the main reason that there is not a way to protect the cards that pay off your Tossing through your deck while you are tossing through your deck. I don't think this card will see play in any other decks, and Tosslock will never actually be good enough because the entire point is counterintuitive to winning games.
I think this works well in any deck that's somewhat aggressive and can draw pretty efficiently through its deck. Rogue, basically. I don't think this works as a finisher or is even very powerful in slower decks. I think everyone gets a copy for free, so at least we can all test it out with a variety of strategies.
This is a very good minion that can eat one enemy minion then turn into a big Taunt to fluster the rest of the enemy minions and protect your minions. I like it a lot, and especially in Menagerie Warden decks.
I've already been having a lot of fun with Vol'jin, and I don't see him slowing down any time soon. As the card pool in Standard shrinks, I think it's likely we see Vol'jin come in just as a card that can deny combos or push a big body back to hand. Of course, I'll still be looking for ways to use him in Show and Tell style decks to cheat big minions into play way before they should have been.
If you can swing it, this minion can sometimes gain a two-for-one. Or, if you can give it Rush it can attack into a minion, survive, then deal 5 damage to the face. It's a bit janky and probably too unreliable to see a lot fo play, but it's nice to dream.
Infinite* Value, which I am always a fan of. Not sure if this is something you really want to be playing with in most Hunter decks, but I think there's definitely a niche for Dire Frenzy style decks in the new expansion that this Beast will certainly slot into. Excited to see what he can do.
Works really well with buffs. Provides a decent Neutral tool for any deck that thinks they can take advantage of his Frenzy effect. One of the few Frenzy cards that has a reliable way of triggering Frenzy. Should see some play, especially early in the expansion, and I think there are a number of classes that can make him work for them.
If you've built your deck correctly, a Blackthorn turn should be pretty big. I think he can work in a variety of decks so long as you have enough Deathrattle for him to pull from your deck. He thins your deck and provides you with a nice board presence. I wouldn't expect this to be a finisher, but it could be a very powerful Tempo play if you're willing to adjust your deck to accommodate him.